Cabinet Office

Transforming Public Procurement Part 1 Consultation on draft regulations to implement the Procurement Bill

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: My Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Alex Burghart MP, has today made the following statement:One in every three pounds of public money, over £300 billion a year, is spent on public procurement. By improving the way public procurement is regulated, the Government can save the taxpayer money and drive benefits across every region of the country.Following the UK’s exit from the EU, we now have an opportunity to develop and implement a new procurement regime. The Procurement Bill will help to deliver the Prime Minister’s promise to grow the economy by creating a simpler and more transparent system that will deliver better value for money, reducing costs for business and the public sector.The Government wants to make it easier for small businesses to work with the public sector by ripping up unnecessary rules and tackling late payment in the supply chain. We will ensure all public bodies consider SMEs when designing their procurements.Following wide-ranging public consultation and stakeholder engagement, and close working with colleagues in the devolved administrations, we have brought forward legislative proposals to establish the new regime. These measures and the training we will roll out to support them will deliver greater value for the public purse, from huge infrastructure projects to services by local councils.In support of the Bill which last week completed 3rd Reading in this place, I am launching a public consultation on the draft implementing Regulations that will form part of the new regime. This consultation, which is highly technical and not seeking views on policy development, will be split into two parts with the first part of the consultation remaining open until 28th July. The first part of the consultation, announced today, focuses on policy areas which require specific detail such as calculation of thresholds, or lists of services or organisations, in secondary legislation. The forthcoming second part will address the transparency provisions and notices that will be used by contracting authorities to fulfil their legal requirements under the Bill. The second part will also include information on the proposed approach to transitional arrangements for procurements already underway at the time that the new regime enters into force and the position on other legislation that will need to be amended in order for the full provisions of the Bill to take effect. I expect to launch the second part in July.The consultation we are publishing today, and laying in Parliament, gives everyone an opportunity to help shape public procurement for the future and I wish to encourage all involved in public procurement to have their say.

Civil Service update

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: My Rt Hon Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and HM Paymaster General, Jeremy Quin MP, has today made the following statement:I am pleased to update the House on ‘Civil Service Live’, the Government’s annual, cross-department series of training events to improve the skills available to public servants. These conferences give civil servants professional development opportunities to meet, learn from each other and share that learning across the civil service.The threefold aim of Civil Service Live is to ‘educate, engage, and empower’ staff in order that they can better support the Government’s work to deliver services for communities across the UK, for instance by sharing innovative ways of working, learning new skills including in the use of data and developing digital public services or developing a better understanding of the way in which the system of government functions. We work with the Scottish Government and Welsh Government on these events.Having begun on 7 June in Newcastle, Civil Service Live events have taken place or are due to take place across the United Kingdom. Over 5,000 officials of all kinds who work for the Government have gathered in dedicated events in Newcastle on 7 June, Glasgow on 15 June, in Belfast on 22 June, and in Exeter yesterday.This year’s programme of events will conclude with sessions in Manchester on 11 July, Cardiff on 13 July, and London on 18 and 19 July.By the time all the sessions are concluded, I expect that as many as 20,000 civil servants will have taken part. We believe it is one of the largest learning events in Europe. As part of the evaluation measures we use, over 80% of attendees to date have said that they will do something differently with the information they have gained at the event, making a tangible difference to how our civil servants deliver public services.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Holocaust Memorial Forecast Cost

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: My Honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Homelessness (Felicity Buchan MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:On 23 February the Holocaust Memorial Bill had its First Reading in the House of Commons. Subject to Parliament’s approval of the Bill, and subject also to the granting of planning consent, the government will proceed to construct a fitting Memorial to the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust and all other victims of the Nazis and their collaborators.Ahead of Second Reading of the Bill I wish to update the House on the forecast costs for completion of the proposed Holocaust Memorial. Delays to the programme arising from the High Court challenge, together with the effects of construction price inflation, mean that forecast costs have increased since the estimates made in July 2021. Our current estimate of total costs to completion (excluding contingency) is set out in the table below. We expect that charitable donations will cover at least £25 million of these costs.The Memorial at Victoria Tower Gardens will help the whole nation to reflect on the importance of the Holocaust and the lessons it holds for us today. Spend and forecast (excluding contingency)  Previous Forecast Current Forecast  Mar-22Mar-23Figures in £m incl. VAT.  Numbers may not sum due to rounding. Forecast1  Forecast2 Client3 9.6  14.3 Design4 11.2  11.9 Exhibition and Content Development5 14.8  15.9 Construction6 62.3  91.3 Mobilisation7 3.6  4.0 Planning Inquiry 1.4  1.4 Grand Total 102.9  138.8  Notes1 March 2022 forecast as published by the NAO in their report “Investigation into the management of the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre Report” dated 5 July 2022.2 Includes the inflationary impact of delays using the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) November 2022 CPI forecast (except for the construction and exhibition elements against which sector specific inflation estimates have been applied as advised by the programme’s consultants).3 Programme team and other programme costs: staff and contractors, rent, business case development, fundraising research, digital storage, communications, legal advice, community engagement, early programme expenditure (technical scoping reports, design competition). The key driver of the cost change is staff costs, primarily resulting from programme delays.4 Up to FBC the key drivers of cost changes were refinement of plans and the costs of the planning Inquiry. Since FBC the key driver is inflation followed by additional expenditure related to changing external cost managers.5 Exhibition design and fit-out costs advised by cost consultants Greenway Associates and based at Q3 2022 prices. Inflation on exhibition delivery costs at an average 4.8% per annum has been applied based on BCIS (Building Cost Information Service) indices. Cost changes are a result of refinement of approach and inflationary impact of delays.6 Costs are based on Q1 2022 prices; inflation based on AECOM Q4 2022 inflation indices (2022: 9%, 2023: 6.4%, 2024: 4%). Construction costs have increased primarily due to inflation resulting from both higher than envisaged construction inflation at OBC and FBC as well as delays to the programme.7 Forecast of operation set-up costs: facilities management, security, staff/contractors, furniture, fixtures and equipment costs in year before opening. Increases are primarily due to refinements in forecasts at FBC stage, increased by inflation due to delays.

Department of Health and Social Care

Improving safety in mental health inpatient services

Lord Markham: My Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Steve Barclay) has made the following written statement:I refer honourable members to the oral statement I will make in the House today, 28 June 2023, on improving safety in mental health inpatient services.

Department for Education

Local Government Pension Scheme Academy Guarantee extension

Baroness Barran: My Right Honourable Friend, The Minister of State for Schools (Nick Gibb MP), has made thefollowing statement.The Department for Education have extended the Local Government Pension Scheme Academy Guarantee to include Academy Trust outsourced contracts (e.g. outsourced catering services).This extension will help Academy Trusts by reducing the costs of their outsourced contracts (e.g. lowering set up costs, simplifying administrative processes, and removing the requirement for a bond).Detailed guidance on the extension has been published: DfE local government pension scheme guarantee for academy trusts: pensions policy for outsourcing arrangements - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Ministry of Defence

Contingent Liabilities for the Astute Replacement Programme

Baroness Goldie: My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (The Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.I am today laying a Departmental Minute to advise that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received approval from His Majesty’s Treasury to recognise new contingent liabilities associated with the Detailed Design and Long Lead Items contract with BAE Systems for the Ship Submersible Nuclear AUKUS (known as “SSN-A”).The Departmental Minute describes the contingent liabilities that the MOD will hold as part of the SSN-A programme. Negotiations are ongoing and the contingent liabilities will come into force on signature of the contract.Our key industry partner for submarine construction, BAE Systems (BAES), has requested indemnities in addition to those set out within pre-approved Defence Contractual Conditions to provide financial provision should the MOD decide to terminate the Detailed Design and Long Lead items contract or not award a follow-on contract with BAES. Both scenarios are highly remote as they would adversely impact support to the Continuous At Sea Deterrent, a top Defence strategic priority.Departmental Minute (pdf, 81.6KB)